China waarschuwt G20 niet over wisselkoers te beginnen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Chinese officials have made it clear that Beijing does not want to be pressed over the value of its currency at next week's G20 i leaders' meeting.
Instead, debate should focus on how best to secure global growth while simultaneously improving the health of public finances in certain problematic regions such as Europe, they indicated.
"We believe it would be inappropriate to discuss the renminbi exchange rate issue in the context of the G20 meeting," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Thursday (17 june).
The statement comes amid increasing pressure in the US Congress for China to allow the value of its currency to rise, with American lawmakers threatening to pass legislation if Beijing fails to act.
Western producers have long complained that China's currency peg with the dollar gives the nation's manufacturers an unfair advantage by undervaluing the yuan and artificially increasing the attractiveness of their product prices.
Indications at the start of the year that suggested Beijing was preparing to allow the yuan to gradually rise have been tempered by Europe's debt crisis and the plummeting value of the euro, say analysts.
The European single currency has lost roughly 17 percent versus the dollar this year, making the region's exports more competitive on the world stage.
Despite the creation of a major rescue plan for struggling eurozone governments, on Thursday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev i expressed doubts about the future of the common currency that is currently shared by 16 countries.
Asked in an interview with the Wall Street Journal whether Europe's debt crisis could spell the end of the euro, Mr Medvedev said: "I don't exaggerate the threat, but it can't be underestimated."
The Russian leader will also attend next week's G20 meeting (June 26-27) in Toronto, where discussion on a global bank levy will feature prominently on the agenda.
EU leaders meeting for a summit on Thursday in Brussels reached a broad agreement to support bank levy plans, and said they would work hard to convince their G20 partners.
A number of countries such as Canada and China are likely to resist the proposals however, having largely avoided the expensive bank recapitalisations that contributed to Europe's poor public finances.